The invention relates to a bunk arrangement comprising a partition device, especially for a sleeping or storing compartment in a vehicle, especially a truck or a bus. The invention further relates to a vehicle cabin comprising such a bunk arrangement.
The cabin especially of a track or a bus is usually equipped with at least one bunk arrangement or sleeping compartment in which the driver or an assistant driver can rest or sleep during a journey so that stops on a journey can be kept at a minimum and the driver and the assistant driver need not to leave the vehicle in order to sleep over night.
Furthermore, if not used for sleeping or resting, such a bunk arrangement or sleeping compartment can usually be used for storing objects or articles. However, in both cases it is desired to have a partition device delimiting the bunk arrangement against other areas of the cabin in order to improve the comfort for a person who is resting on the bunk or in order to avoid that stored objects or articles fail down from the bunk arrangement and hurt the driver or the assistant driver during driving.
EP 1 069 031 discloses a hunk arrangement which comprises a bunk with a free edge with substantially vertically extending safety belts, which are attached to the ceiling of a cabin, and a safety net which is guided and locked by means of a horizontal net rod along the safety belts. Furthermore, at a free edge of the bunk a cartridge is provided enclosing a spring biased shaft for roiling up the safety net when releasing the same for shifting it into its downward position.
EP 1 147 946 discloses a safety net arrangement for a bunk in which the safety net is provided at its free (forward) end with a net tube with attachments for suspending the net in the cabin. Net belts which are fastened to the net tube and the net extend under the bunk and are attached at the back of the wall of the cabin. Furthermore, elastic means are provided at the backward end of the net for withdrawing it under the bunk when the net is released from its suspension. Both these arrangements are relatively expensive in manufacturing and mounting because they comprise several single pans which have to be assembled.
It is desirable to provide a bunk arrangement according to the introductory part above which comprises a partition device and which can be manufactured and assembled in a quick and easy manner.
Furthermore, it is desirable that a bunk arrangement comprising a partition device shall be provided, which can be manually operated in a quick and simple way and is reliable in use.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, a bunk arrangement comprising a partition device is provided with a partition wall with a plurality of wall elements, which are provided for folding together and defolding the wall for retracting and extending it, respectively, and holding and guiding means for holding the partition wall and for guiding the same between a retracted and an extended state.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, a bunk arrangement comprising a partition device is provided with a partition wall with a free upper and a lower edge, and a retracting device comprising an actuation means, mounted within or under a bunk of the bunk arrangement for drawing the partition wall at least partly into or under the bunk when the partition wall is released from a suspension.
An advantage of these aspects is that the partition device can be used as a separation wall and as a safety wall for delimiting the bunk arrangement and for avoiding that stored objects or articles fail down from the bunk arrangement.